Studio 1737 Screen Perminantly Dim, Dark Screen

I am working on a Dell Studio 1737 which has a problem with the screen going dim after about 1 second from startup. This of course started only a few months out of warranty. When first powered on the screen displays correctly, but then about one second later the screen goes very dim, to the point that it is almost impossible to see. I noticed that if I am in a room with bright lighting (or if I shine a flashlight ont he screen) I can see everything running normally. Also, plugging in an external monitor works and also causes the laptop screen to go BRIGHT for 1 second while I am Fn+F8 switching the monitor to and from the external.

I have used the external to go in and play with every single brightness option possible, set the display to never go dim when plugged in no matter what. Also tried all power options to make sure that there are no situations where the screen should go dim (like closing the lid). I had thought maybe the lid sensor was the problem and the laptop may have thought that it was closed so it was going dim, this was not the case either.

I am not happy to see several other topics relating to this same exact problem with same exact laptop. None of them have an answer to this date.